Joshua Tree National Park

2. Joshua Trees

On the way to Mesa Verde National Park we also stop to visit the Joshua Tree National Park. Chet poses with Joshua Trees. The Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia, is a giant member of the lily family. Like the California fan palm, Washingtonia filfera, the Joshua tree is a monocot, in the subgroup of flowering plants which also includes grasses and orchids. The Joshua tree provides a good indicator that you are in the Mojave Desert, but you may also find it growing next to a saguaro cactus in the Sonoran Desert in western Arizona or mixed with pines in the San Bernardino Mountains. Today we enjoy this yucca for its grotesque appearance, a surprising sight in the landscape of biological interest.